bill: so finale tonight, president obama taking the stage at 10:00 eastern, make sure you keep it here for the best coverage in prime time. i thought last night was a little down up until president clinton came out, so we'll see how tonight goes. martha: i agree. president obama, of course, will be on the floor for the special tonight. we will see you there. jenna: we certainly will, first, let's take a look at the markets that are rallying up more than 200 points. a few reasons for that today including some news out of europe that, yes, a market is going to be created to buy government bonds. what does that mean? it means, potentially, there's a market in customers to buy debt from some of the regions in europe that are suffering so much under their own crushing debt that they don't know what to do with it. so that's one of the reasons why we're seeing the markets up today. also, too, jobless claims, the

amount of americans filing for unemployment and also a private sector report on job growth came in better than expected, and that's ahead of the big jobs report tomorrow. so some positive news. investors are taking it in on wall street, and you see the market's up 240 points. well, right now brand new stories and breaking news this hour. jon: high drama at the democratic convention, and we're not talking about the speeches. the fights over the party's platform touch off a big controversy. also, air scare. the fbi and the police bomb squad at the philadelphia airport after a us airways flight is forced to turn around. we're waiting for a live news conference from the scene on this very strange story. and it's all up to the jury now. drew peterson's fate hangs in the balance as the jury decides whether the former police officer killed his third wife. the evidence they asked to see. we're on verdict watch here on "happening now."

>> ladies and gentlemen, i have been informed that barack obama is now our party's official nominee for president of the united states of america. [cheers and applause] ♪ >> congratulations, mr. president. congratulations, america. jenna: that look like a great workout. [laughter] jon: jane fonda. they are working out, they are partying in charlotte, aren't they? wow. jenna: certainly a lot of movement and a lot of excitement. jon: a lot of happiness there. and now the voters decide. good morning to you, i'm jon scott. jenna: hi, everybody, i'm jenna lee, and we're live at the democratic national convention as president obama gets ready for his big night tonight where he will accept his party's nomination for a second term. but another democratic star stole the show last night. three guesses, jon. jon: could it be bubba? jenna: that's right.

in a nearly 50-minute speech, bill clinton fired up the crowd, warning the country not to return the white house to republican control while offering a stirring endorsement of president obama. take a listen. >> we democrats, we think the country works better with a strong middle class, with real opportunities for poor folks to work their way into it, with a relentless focus on the future, with business and government actually working together to promote growth and broadly share prosperity. you see, we believe that we're all in this together is a far better philosophy than you're on your own. [cheers and applause] in tampa the republican argument against the president's re-election was actually pretty simple, pretty snappy. it went something like this: we left him a total mess. he hasn't cleaned it up fast enough, so fire him and put us back in. [laughter] when president barack obama took

office, the economy was in freefall, it had just shrunk ninefold percent of gdp, we were losing 750,000 jobs a month. are we doing better than that today? the answer the -- is, yes. jenna: the speech ending with a rare show of affection. bring it in for the real thing, got a hug there. much more on the president's speech in just a minute, but, first, the real drama of the night centered on the party's platform, and the controversy over restoring references to god and jerusalem as the capital of israel. >> governor strickland has made a motion on the floor to suspend the rules. is there a second? a motion to suspend the rules to permit the amendment to the platform has been moved and seconded. this is a nondebatable motion requiring a two-thirds vote. all of those in favor of

suspending the rules, say aye. >> aye! >> all those opposed, say no. >> no. >> in the opinion of the chair, there's been a two-thirds affirmative vote to suspend the rules. jenna: john roberts is live in charlotte and, john, the democrats we talked to say we're moving on, we're moving on. this is over, this is in the past. but how much of a mess is this for the democrats? >> reporter: jenna, this was a big mess for the democrats. they are in the process of cleaning it up now. what you heard there, too, was just a vote to suspend the rules. the the vote to adopt the changes to the platform got a lot messier than that. these conventions are all about messaging, and democrats lost control of the message for a full day. this ad greeted them in the daily charlotte observer newspaper from the republican jewish coalition, and even though the top complaint has been fixed, there's a lot of other complaints they still have with the party platform. it's inexplicable how the language got out because this is a position that the president himself believes in, a position that he articulated before the

american israel public affairs committee as a candidate back in 2008, and he had to personally intervene to put the language back in. and we have spoke with democratic officials from the chairman of the platform committee to the chairwoman of the democratic national committee, and not one of them could explain how the language was taken out in the first place. here's a conversation i had last night with debbie wasserman-schultz. an omission, was it intentional? >> no, it was not an omission, and it was not intentional. >> reporter: how did it get out then? >> well, like i said, sometimes there are technical corrections, and we have to make technical corrections to legislation on the house floor all the time. >> reporter: so debbie wasserman-schultz said it wasn't an omission, mayor cory booker of new york this morning said it was an omission, stephanie cutter from the obama campaign said it was a mistake, and senator dick durbin said on tuesday night as he was railing against bret baier that it was a trifle that didn't really matter. obviously, it did, jenna. jenna: interesting. so those are the officials that

are talking about it. what about the delegates, john, the folks there that are, you know, on the convention floor and are representing their states? >> reporter: you know, there was a lot of opposition to the adoption of the motion from delegates, particularly arab-american and muslim delegates from the states of michigan, minnesota and washington. we talked with one of those delegates from the washington, here's what he told us. >> it's not the language, it's the way how they put it in, surprise the delegates. the delegate were unseated in the seats, and the way how they brought this. we are democrats. they should listen to us. doesn't matter if they put it in the platform or not, we know what's going to happen. but people vote for it, and they say, nay, three times. >> reporter: so he clearly believes that people said no three times. now, it's one thing to adopt either a majority motion or a two-thirds motion on a simple voice vote when it wasn't really there. republicans did that in tampa, but they have to do it three times. the on the oics of that are very bad. a lot of people wanted there to

be a roll call on this, jenna, and this was not only putting the language about jerusalem back in, but also restoring the word "god" to the platform. can you imagine if they took a roll call, and it failed to put god back in your platform? that would not have looked good, jenna. jenna: yeah. it did happen, but it's something to keep an eye on, and we'll see what happens tonight and whether or not the president addresses this. john, thank you so much. jon: for more on the democratic platform fight, let's bring in ab stoddard, associate editor for "the hill." so is this, as dick durbin described it, a trifle, this fight over the missing language in the platform? >> well, i think platform fights are usually over things that are, um, insignificant ultimately. candidates often running for president have disagreements with language that appear in the platform. platform is left to the party faithful usually to draw up. there's lots of fights from desperate groups within --

disparate groups within the coalition parties who draft those platforms. this became an enormous distraction, and as you mentioned, the president decided he had to intervene and put aside this show. it was a distraction the party couldn't afford. so if you look at the republican side, they, too, had a distraction with a platform language on abortion that differed from mitt romney's position. but, um, this happens a lot. um, i think it was a stupid mistake, and they tried to rectify it. they're hoping people were not watching that platform fight at five in the afternoon who are swing, persuadable voters. they're hoping he was watching bill clinton later on in the night. but it certainly is a distraction, and it's unnecessary. it's really the classic definition of an unforced error. jon: well, bill clinton made a very impassioned defense of president president obama. here's what he had to say about the job, the task, i guess, that was left to president obama starting in 2009.

>> i had the same thing happen in 1994 and early '95. we could see that the policies were working. that the economy was growing. but most people didn't feel it yet. thankfully, by 1996 the economy was roaring, everybody felt it, and we were halfway through the longest peacetime expansion in the history of the united states. [cheers and applause] but -- wait. the difference time is purely in the circumstances. president obama started with a much weaker economy than i did. listen to me now. no president, no president -- not me, not any of my predecessors -- no one could have fully repaired all the damage that he found in just four years. [cheers and applause]

jon: well, a couple of questions about that, ab. i mean, first of all, when you take a look at the statistics, when ronald reagan took office, unemployment was 8.2%. it actually increased somewhat during the first couple of months of his term. i think we have the statistics to show people. and by the time ronald reagan's first term ended, unemployment was down at around 6%. same thing for the -- okay, there you see the down a quarter, .28% per year. same thing with the inflation rate. the inflation rate when ronald reagan took office was 13 -- i'm sorry, 11.8%, and by the time he ended his first term, it was down to 4.7%. clearly, there are presidents who have faced challenges at least as great as those faced by president obama, ab. >> well, president clinton disagrees with that assessment. i mean -- jon: yeah, he does. >> i think it's a very tough

question. it's a potent question, republicans are asking voters are you better off than you were four years ago. voters are not remembering how scared they were, an emergency bailout, 750,000 jobs disappearing every month. they just know they don't see it getting better fast enough, so that's a very strong headwind for president obama do go up -- to go up against. what president clinton did for him last night was try to reframe the terms and say i am a former president, and i can tell you that unlike reagan or anyone else, president obama inherited something far worse, much more damaged economy, something that, you know, we haven't seen since the great depression, and it was not possible, and i as a former president can tell you that. to reverse this. and we have a former governor, congressman telling him and everyone else it should have been cleaned up in three years. that is, that is something obama can't say for himself, so that's why it was such a powerful validation for president obama

to the democrats in this hall, and they loved it. jon: but even president obama said he should clean it up in three years, and he knew what the numbers were back then. here's what he said in 2009. >> one nice thing about the situation i find myself in is that i will be held accountable. if i don't have this done in three years, then this is going to be a one-term proposition. jon so why all of a sudden does he need four more? >> well, you know, in the same month that he made that comment to matt lauer, he also pledged at a fiscal responsibility summit at the white house that he was going to cut the deficit in half during his term, and he hasn't done that either. there are a string of broken promises that he is trying to defend himself on, and his answer is always the same, that the recession was greater and deeper than he understood at the time. people don't think this recovery is happening fast enough. that's not good enough for them. so this is really a fight president obama, i think, is happy to be in parity in the

polls with mitt romney on. it's a tight fight, and i think in this economy it's surprising he's doing this well. romney's going to make an argument after two more bad jobs reports or not, you know, satisfactory jobs reports that this is not good enough. there are a remaining portion of the electorate, persuadable voters, who might be persuaded to vote for romney and vote president obama out of office. but at this point they are holding onto the argument that this is a choice, not a referendum on his record. it was harder than they knew, and so far if you look at the polls, enough people are buying it. jon: we'll see what they decide 61 days from now. ab stoddard from "the hill," thank you. >> thank you. jenna: democrats amend their platform to put back references to god and jerusalem. who took them out in the first place? that's one of the questions. the other is, how does this effect even the foreign policy plans or what are we to make of this in general? we're going to get to the bottom of some of these questions at the democratic convention in charlotte just ahead.

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jenna: well, right now a big question at the democratic convention, just who removed references to god and jerusalem from the democratic party platform. we may never know, we don't have an answer as of yet, and there still seems to be confusion over whether the language was mistakenly left out or deliberately omitted or just what happened. democrats scrambled to include mentioning god and signifying jerusalem as the capital of israel, but the move did not exactly come easy. it took three voice votes before the convention chairman was

convinced two-thirds of the delegates approved these changes. deputy director for the national security adviser committee for the obama campaign, col lip, nice to have you -- colin, nice to have you with us. >> it's great to be with you. jenna: is the party somehow undermining the president's leadership here, or is the party reflecting how the president really feels? >> well, i mean, if you're referring to the jerusalem issue on the platform, i think if people read our platform, it is extraordinarily strong on israel. and more important than that, it really goes into detail on the unprecedented support that president obama has provided for israel in terms of security assistance, in terms of intelligence assistance, diplomatic support at the u.n., etc. so, look, i think there was some misinterpretation that somehow the language in the platform signified a change in where the party was vis-a-vis the 2008 language. the president saw that misinterpretation and personally

intervened to change it. so i really think this issue is behind us, and there's no question that president obama has been an unprecedented supporter of israel in his first four years. jenna: all right, colin. one of the reasons why we want to talk about the jerusalem issue is because the importance of israel as an ally of this country and also where we are with iran because we know it's a big enemy of israel and this country. you helped to implement our strategy, our defense department strategy when it comes to iran, and we've seen the sanctions go into effect, but what's next when it comes to dealing with iran? because they have not stopped their nuclear program. what will the president tell us tonight? >> look, i think you'll hear from all the speakers tonight that we've had an extraordinarily aggressive posture as it relates to iran. the most crippling sanctions ever imposed on iran were put in place by this administration working with other countries around the world. i think what the president has made clear is that all options remain on the table, that his

goal is the prevention of a nuclear iran, not the containment of a nuclear iran. but he's also made clear that time and space remains for diplomacy, and that we have some time to see if the sanctions start to change the iranian calculus. i think your viewers need to keep in mind that the really crippling sanctions have only been in place for a couple of months, the economic situation is getting worse in iran, so we'll have to see whether the iranian position starts to shift. jenna: so you think this is coming to a head in the next couple months? >> i don't know if it's coming to a head, be i think -- but i think we've seen the pressure build and build on them, and it's going the continue over time, and the iranians are going to have to make tough decisions in the coming days. jenna: so, colin, on that sometimes we need to reflect on the past, and one of the things we've seen in this administration is a huge uprise anything the streets of iran in 2009, and the president was criticized for not getting more directly involved in supporting the folks in the streets that wanted to overturn the regime. how do you think the president

views that decision now? was that a mistake to not support the people in the streets of iran? >> i think there's a bit of a mythology surrounding that, actually. the president did come out, the administration did come out in supporting the universal principles of people to be able to to speak, to protest, to get access to information. they did criticize the regime. the issue was how forward leaning you should be in terms of calling for regime change because there were a lot of voices within the iranian opposition both in iran and here who were trying to encourage the united states not to get too close because they feared that the regime would use that as an excuse to crack down even harder than it did. jenna: interesting. how forward leaning should you be? that's an interesting question. we look forward to having you back. >> sure. jon: well, it happened late at night on the east coast, so you might have missed this moment between two powerful men as president obama hugs former president clinton after his nominating speech. but which voters are democrats trying to reach with that

speech? will bill clinton help president obama in states like ohio and pennsylvania? larry sabato goes in depth. and he's known for his gaffes, but tonight it's up to vice president biden to follow mr. clinton's lead and drive home the point being he wants four more years. joe biden unleashed, next. [ mother ] you can't leave the table till you finish your vegetables. [ clock ticking ] [ male announcer ] there's a better way... v8 v-fusion. vegetable nutrition they need, fruit taste they love. could've had a v8...

>> i want to nominate a man who's cool on the outside -- [cheers and applause] but who burns for america on the inside. [cheers and applause] i want, i want a man who believes with no doubt that we can build a new american dream

economy driven by innovation and creativity, by education and, yes, by cooperation. jenna: a little bit more flavor from bill clinton's speech at the democratic national convention. in case, you know, you were watching football last night. the former president pulled out all the stops in charlotte to convince the american voters to give the president four more years in office. but which voters specifically does the obama campaign hope that mr. clinton can influence? we're going to talk about it with larry sabato, director for the center of politics at the university of virginia. he did not have a choice last night, he could not watch football, he had to watch bill clinton. right, larry? >> well, i had a slate screen, jenna, to be honest. [laughter] jenna: i did too. our confessions are out. you're really quite funny on twitter and otherwise, and one of the comments that you put on twitter the other night is you said in reaction to michelle and ann romney's speech, you say spouses please voters but don't change votes. that's what you said about the

spouses. does bill clinton change votes? >> i don't think so. at least i don't think he will have changed them by november. look, his, his goal is to help barack obama generally, to explain why the economy hasn't improved much over four years, and then the second underlying demographic is he wants to reach blue collar whites, he wants to reach non-college whites. these are people who supported hillary clinton heavily in the primaries of 2008. they've never really warmed to barack obama. and he doesn't have 'em now. but, you know, jenna, it's a really tough thing to transfer popularity. jenna: transfer popularity. what do you mean by that, larry? is it just, so are you just saying bill clinton's just popular by himself, and he can't kind of, you know, give a tag, you're it to the president and make him suddenly more popular? >> exactly. there's a long history of trying to do this through endorsements and other means. and bill clinton was with saying

to those voters -- was saying to those voters that he was targeting, look, i know you support me, i know you support hillary. you don't currently support barack obama, here are the reasons why you should. now, i'm sure some listened, but let's remember the election is two full months away. a speech that happens in early september isn't going to have much impact on an election november 6th. jenna: you know, one of the things we did see was bill clinton and elizabeth warren who came before him really go negative and go arrestively after the republicans in a way that we didn't really see as overtly at the republican national convention. maybe you disagree with that, larry, but what do you think the republicans' response will be, if any, and does this change the strategy in any way on either side based on what was presented last night? >> well, based on what i've seen, jenna, republicans don't want to tangle with bill clinton. and the reason is the polls. he's near 70% popularity again. remember, he had a long dip there --

[laughter] in the late '90s all the way through the bush administration. but now he's back at 70 because people remember the economic good times in the 1990s. but, again, i don't think that's going to translate for the november election. should republicans attack bill clinton? i think they need to refute the facts he presented. they may have other facts to counter the facts bill clinton presented including arithmetic. [laughter] which was the field president clinton stressed. but i don't think they want it to get into personal attacks on bill clinton. it's pointless. jenna: interesting. arithmetic, that'll be exciting television, i'm sure, when we present it. one quick question, you know, americans do like a comeback. you mentioned the president, president clinton, with a comeback there after some obstacles in his career. but you say one of the interesting things you saw last night was secretary of state hillary clinton may very well make a run in 102016. -- 2016. why do you think that is? >> oh, i think once you have

come achingly close to inwithing, it's really tough to get rid of that bug. you know, as they say, the only cure for it is to be six feet under. well, she's very much alive and energy jettic. and think about this, jenna: how is barack obama going to oppose hillary clinton in 2016 given the giant iou he now has to the clintons after last night? jenna: do you put that on the refrigerator, like other ious? >> i don't know what the clintons do with them, but they have a way of preserving them, don't worry. jenna: collect them, file them in a drawer. all right, larry, we appreciate your perspective and always look forward to having you back on. >> thanks so much, jenna. take care. jon: the new weekly jobless numbers out this morning show slight improvement, but the big news comes tomorrow. what the august unemployment rate could mean for the economy and president obama's hopes for re-election. speaking of which, vice president joe biden ready to

take the stage tonight at the democratic national convention. with so much at stake, will the guy known for his gaffes help or hurt? >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states of america, barack obama. [cheers and applause] if you have copd like i do,

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if yr breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, vision changes or eye pain, or problems passing ure. other side effects include dry mouth and constipation. nothing can reverse copd. spiriva helps me breathe better. does breathing with copd weigh you down? jon: a fox news business alert. all eyes on the jobs market ahead of the monthly unemployment report. showing the first dip in initial unemployment claims in a month. that is welcome news for the obama administration amid growing criticism of its handling of the economy. rich edson is live with us from washington. break down the numbers for us, rich stpw over the past few months jobs reports have been sluggish,ee tphaoebg i can a,

anemic. tomorrow morning the government releases the official report telling us how many workers got or lost jobs in august. this morning economic reports point to better job growth. a survey of private companies said they hired more than 200,000 workers that month. that andg for unemployment benefits came in better than had been expected. one economist says the job market is improving, slowly. >> the expectation for the labor market for the foreseeable future, certainly the next several months will be more of the same. we'll make progress, we'll show some improvement but not enough really to chip away at the unemployment rate at the way i think policy makers and economists are hoping. >> for that he says the economy needs to add at least 250,000 jobs a month. a survey of economists predicts half that number for tomorrow's report. after tomorrow's job release the labor department issues only two more of those job reports before election day. jon. jon: we have a long way to go to

get back to anything close to full employment. >> right, right, what is what economists are saying. we are plodding along right here to keep up with inflation, or the entrance into the job market you're looking at 150, 200,000 jobs a month. jon: rich edson thank you. >> since 1961, for 52 years now the republicans have held the white house 28 years, the democrats 24. in those 52 years our private economy has produced 66 million private sector jobs. so what's the job score? republicans 24 million, democrats 42. [cheers and applause] jenna: president clinton chalked full with good jeopardy facts last night. he pumped up the crowd at the

republica democratic convention. he made the case that despite tough times the economy is improving. austin goolsbee is with us today. nice to have you with us again. >> always a pleasure to see you. jenna: here is the argument from president clinton. no one could fix this mess in four years, but president obama is like me, like president clinton in that there are good times ahead. austin, why should the american people believe that we are on the vernal of great economic times? >> well, i think that was one of the arguments that he said. i think the whole thing overall to me was pretty calm pair tiff he said, look, these policies are exactly like the ones we pursued where there was a benefit and the policies that critics of the president are proposing seem very similar to the ones that were tried that didn't work, and so i think just

as a matter of logic, you know, let's go to look at the historical record was the argument he's making and, you know, there is something to that. jenna: why should we believe that better times are ahead? >> because, a, many of the core strengths of the u.s. economy remain there, compared with other advanced countries of the world, for sure the u.s.'s problems look like they are of a manageable size, and on the policy side because these policies have worked in the past. jenna: so he really took a part as you mentioned in the comparison, he took a part the gop plan really bit by bit in a couple of different ways. what is your understanding of the plan that the president has for the next four years when it comes to job growth? >> well, i think that you've got two different parts of that question. one is what's in the immediate, and there i think it's continued struggle, but with success of shifting the focus of the

economy away from bubble and bust type housing construction, and excessive consumer spending towards exports, investments, manufacturing, small business and that process has been going on, and a lot of policy is going to focus on doing that. and i think a lot of the jobs focuses from the president's plan, how do you empower the middle class to be driving the growth. on the longer run i think we've got to confront some of these grand bargain issues of fiscal consolidation. i think that will be pretty important for overall confidence of the business sector and growth in the long run, and there we'll have to see how it plays out. i mean they almost had a deal last year as you know. and i hope in 2013 they'll be able to make a deal aeu across party lines. but we'll have to see how that works out. jenna: because you are so close

with the president do you see that as part of his plan? you worked with him for a majority of his first term here, that he has the ability, the desire to move towards the center, very much like bill clinton did in his second term? would you think that is something that the president has on the horizon or is a goal of his? >> probably. you know, it fends how you define moving to the center. i think you saw a year ago when we got in the fight about the debt ceiling and the negotiations about the grand bargain, the president very much willing to do some balanced plan that involved majority spending cuts, coupled with some tax revenue to try to address a fiscal problem that we've had for 50 years and nobody has done anything about, which is aging of the population, and the rising healthcare costs. jenna: i see. we'll watch for the president's conversation on the economy tonight. do your students get off scot-free, no homework while you're gone and at the

convention, austin? >> pretty much. they haven't started yet. they are on quarters. jenna: now you have this experience to talk to them about. nice to see you always. thank you for the time. >> great to see you. jon: we are waiting for a verdict in the drew petersen murder trial. the jurors are now deciding whether the former cop killed his third wife, kathleen savio. we'll tell you what testimony they are asking to review in a live report from the courthouse. also, the vice president takes center stage in charlotte tonight in a speech introducing president obama. so will joe biden help or hurt the obama re-election effort? a fair & balanced debate ahead. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. your soups are so awesomely delicious my husband and i can't stop eating 'em!

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>> thank you, terry, and thank you dr. pepper, and thank you chancellor -- doctor paper. speak softly and carry a big

stick, end of quote. i promise you, the president has a big stick. they going to put y'all back in chains. jon: the vice president joe biden has made his share of gaffes on the past. all eyes will be on his big speech at the democratic national convention. besides all the gaffes is he an as, et to thsett to the president? we have a panel to discuss that. what do you think, the vice president presumably is going to be sticking to the prompter to tonight. it is sometimes when he gets off prompter that he has a problem. >> well, every political figure has their moments in the spotlight where they don't say everything exactly right. we all know that mitt romney certainly had his top ten list from i like firing people, to corporations are people to, to my personal favorite, who let the dogs out, woof, woof.

you have to appreciate that. the vice president is going to do exactly what the first laid doe and what president clinton did last night is to layout a case why we should have four more years for president obama. he is one of the president's most trusted advisers because of his 36 years of experience in the senate, because of his 3 and a half years as vice president serving as chairman of the judiciary committee and foreign relations committee and the violence against women's act, he's a great political record. jon: hold on angela. let corey finish. >> go ahead. >> so with that the vice president is well suited and well positioned to make the case for four more years of president obama tonight. jon: all right. 36 years in the senate, angela is that what brings him the expertise? >> that does bring a certain type of expertise.

biden is a charismatic speaker if he sticks to the prompter. if he talks to policy issues and what he and president obama will do to create a better and prosperous america he should do well. he shouldn't mention, they will put y'all back in chains or all the gaffes he's made in the past or change his cade dance. he needs to talk about policy issues. you have close to 47 million americans on food stamps. core closures are up. unemployment is still at about 8.3%. what will this administration do differently? what he doesn't need to do is bash republicans, because people are tired of the bashing, people are tired of the blame game, they want answers and solutions. >> angela -- go ahead, jon. jon: one of joe biden's west assets supposedly is his loyalty to president obama.

the new book out from bob woodward has a p-s average about how durinpassage about during the debt negotiations between the president and house republicans biden said to eric cantor, if i were president i'd be handling this differently. that is not the mark of a loyal soldier. >> i don't know what is in that book, i haven't heard about it. what i do know is joe biden is one of the president's most trusted advisers, and let me tell you this. you don't always want someone who is going to agree with you on every issue as president. you want people contrary from time to time because you want to have different opinions voiced at the table. president obama encourages this. at the efrpbd the day end of the day he and the vice president will not agree on everything. it helps the president make the best decisions on behalf of the rest of the nation. >> corey there are some people in your party like doug wilder the first black governor that

said that hillary rodham clinton should be the president's running mate. charlie rangel is not too crazy about biden. you do have factions of your party that don't believe he's an asset. what i can't wait too see is my friend paul ryan going against joe biden in a debate. he's not going to be able to bamboozle like you democrats like to do. he needs to talk about policy which is what needs to be said and done at this time. the partisan politics and name calling should stop. what we should do is work together. since you guys put clinton out there last night let's go back to the clinton days where republicans and democrats can all work together. >> angela let me quickly make this point. if we want to talk about which convention bashed the most i think the republicans last week beat us hands down and handily. secondly you have to take a look at and if you want to talk about policy versus policy i think we've had more substance than you could ever have imagined.

>> calling mitt romney a liar? >> at the end of the day, this is the case, vice president joe biden 0 will be the nominee. we will move forward. >> you have to fight hard to get god and jerusalem back into your platform. >> i can't have a conversation like this if she is going to out talk me. jon: we are drifting off into conversations about the conventions and so forth. it's really about joe biden. we'll all be watching tonight. >> i'm with you. jon: we'll all be watching tonight when he speaks before the president's address. corey elands, angela mcgowlan thank you. jenna: a jury of his peers deciding the fate of drew petersen, do they think the former police officer murdered his third wife? a decision expected really at any time. we are live outside the courthouse ahead.

jon: we are awaiting a verdict in a murder trial that has made national headlines. any time now we could learn whether a jury believes that former police officer drew peterson killed his third wife. she was found dead in a dried bathtub in 2004. petersen is the only person of i interest in the disappearance of his fourth wife, stacy. steve brown is keeping an eye on it outside the courthouse. steve. >> reporter: hey, jon the prosecutor here, james glascow says he's mildly confident that he can get a conviction against drew peterson. he faces two murder counts, the death of miss third wife in a dried bathtub in march of 2004.

the jury has been at work for two days, the jury watch is on and the waiting game sets in. >> that is something you never can predict, so i know that this is a jury that is very thoughtful, and they are going to make sure they come to the right conclusion. >> reporter: petersen, according to his defense attorneys is optimistic, but ready to accept whatever verdict the jury comes up with. no idea how long that could all take. the jury did have four questions yesterday. so far in today's deliberations which began a little bit after 10:00 east coast time no questions offered up by the jury. a lot of guessing yesterday after those four questions came out as to which way the jury may be leaning. >> they basically asked for evidence from all parts of the casement they asked for evidence about whether or not it was a homicide versus an accident. they asked for evidence to evaluate kathy's statements and they asked for evidence to evaluate stacy's statements. they are looking at the whole

case. i don't think you can read anything for either side. >> reporter: you know, once the jury wanted to hear more about was the testimony from stacy peterson's pastor and her divorce attorney. in both conversations she talked about knowledge of drew peterson having skilled kathleen savio. among the other documents the jury wanted to have a look at were more pictures, autopsy pictures if you will of kathleen savio and other documents. again, day two underway, no indication if the jury is getting close. jon. jon: let us know if they come out with a verdict. steve brown, thank you. jenna: after a stirring nominating speech from the last democratic president to serve two terms president obama certainly has an act to follow tonight. what he needs to say to make his case to the american people. we are going to talk more about that. plus controversy at democratic convention over efforts to restore god and jerusalem, those specific words to the party's platform. what is really behind the uproar? plus, who pushed for the change in the first place? questions we'll tackle next ho

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jon: a very big night for democrats, and for president obama as well. he will wrap-up the convention by accepting his party's nomination for a second term, unless he prices us all and says no. jenna: probably not. jon: a very powerful speech tonight could help on election day. so will mr. obama deliver. i'm jon scott welcome to "happening now." jenna: i'm jenna lee. bill clinton set the table last night and as speeches go collective reviews say bill clinton set the bar pretty high endorsing the president's policies and laying out the most powerful, forceful case at the convention so far for reelecting the president. the day was not without some controversy. a floor fight breaking out over the democratic platform, metaphorically, not a real fight. many delegates strongly resisting efforts to restore

references to god and jerusalem as israel's capitol, those exact words. others fighting to put it back in. >> as the chair i come before you today to discuss two important matters related to our party's national platform. as a ordained united methodist minister i am here to attest and affirm that our faith and belief in god in central to the american story and informs the values we've expressed in our party's platform. in addition, president obama recognizes jerusalem as the capitol of israel and our party's platform should as well. jenna: we'll have more on the platform fight and the outcome a little later this hour. we are also going to hear tonight, though from the vice president joe biden. he's known as you well know for sometimes having a gaffe or two. that is kind of book marked his vice president see. he's also one of the president's fiercist defenders. that's for sure. the headliner of the night will

be the president. he delivered a soaring acceptance speech in 2008. the question is what can he deliver tonight, what can we expect this time around. chief correspondent james rosen is live in charlotte. hi, james. >> reporter: i have just spoken minutes ago with the top officials on the obama-biden campaign and i asked him if obama had the magic he possessed in 2008. they said it won't be about imagine i can, it will be about providing the american people with a pragmatic vision of about how he can move america forward. the campaign aides told fox news they felt mitt romney's convention speech was about two people, himself and barack obama. obama will want to reach the people tuning in in day pho*eupb iowa and other persuadable voters. perhaps he can still summon the powers of persuasion that helped get him elected in the first

place. his advisers think so. >> you're not seeing him for the first time or the 10th time. look, i think we are -- i think he will meet the moment. i think the speech will rise to meet the moment that we are in, the moment that he must capture, and the business that he will do on behalf of the american people in this country. >> reporter: bill clinton spoke for some 50 minutes last night. the average length of president obama's last ten speeches before major crowds was only 24 minutes. but mr. obama's last ten solo news conferences lasted an average of 43 minutes. some independent observers say that mr. obama's major problem tonight will be the fact that as the nation's chief executive in the age of 24-7 news cycles and constant social media, he is, well, over exposed. >> he was a bright, shiny new silver dollar in 2008, but it's been rubbed down, and it's obvious that events have taken hold, obama is not what he once

was, it isn't 2008 any more. people have seen him, they understand what he's about, they are less inclined to believe the rhetoric, they tend to look at the action. >> reporter: there was one really key moment in bill clinton's performance last night, i'm sure you recall it. it was when he said that no president could have fully solved the economic problems that barack obama inherited within four years times. that contrasts so much with president obama's own statement to the today's show three years ago that he if he doesn't have this solved within three years it's going to be a one-term proposition. i asked owe bam officials about those statements today, they said there is no difference between them because president obama has taken us forward on several fronts with respect to the economy. back to you. jenna: we'll see how he addresses it tonight. as gibb said he'll meet the moment but no magic, james, that's the assessment right now. >> reporter: these from the campaign itself, that's right. jenna: james very interesting, thank you. >> now we all know that governor

romney opposed the plan to save gm and chrysler so here is another job score. are you listening in michigan and ohio and across the country? [cheers and applause] >> here is another job score. obama 250,000, romney zero. jon: bill clinton last night touting president obama's bailout of the auto industry. many of those jobs are found in the key battleground state of ohio. a new poll shows president obama losing his lead in ohio putting governor romney three points ahead now. the "real clear politics" polling average factors in the new numbers, the race now a virtual tie with president obama less than a point ahead in this polling average. in the national head-to-head contest rcp has the candidates

tied dead even 46.7% each. shane deapril is the editor of "campaigns and elections magazine." has that 3-point lead for mitt romney in ohio in that one poll, if that holds, if it's accurate it is absolutely huge, isn't it? >> yeah, there is no doubt, jon. i think given the importance of ohio and its 18 electoral votes for mitt romney any positive polling news out of that state is good news for the romney campaign. i think under scoring that is the fact that ohio presents some challenges that perhaps other battle grounds don't necessarily present for mitt romney. the unemployment rate there about a full percentage point lower than the national average, certainly not good, but that changes the dynamics slightly and i think it makes perhaps some of the obama's campaign attacks a little more effective. such a critical battleground for mitt romney, no doubt good news for the campaign to see some of those numbers out of there. jon: when vice president biden

keeps hammering this point that osama bin laden is dead and gm is alive he's trying to let some of that auto bailout glory rub off on the president. >> yeah, and i think that actually the one interesting part about, you know, how critical ohio is, is it's worth noting no republican has won the white house without winning ohio. you're going to see this massive influx of money from campaign ads. we've already seen it but we're going to see it now start flowing even more from the romney campaign. it will be centered in a lot of the major media markets in ohio and i think this is the spot where given the electoral college map the fact that mitt romney can turn so many other states that obama won in 2008 to his column, still perhaps not get that electoral college victory without ohio all the energy is going to be focused there without a doubt. jon: we started this segment off by pointing to the poll that shows mitt romney taking the lead in ohio. to what would you a tribute that? >> i think it's too early to

say. it's one poll and we've seen for a longtime a trend whereby the race has been particularly tight in ohio. typically within the margin of error but president obama has held a small lead there for a while now. so until we see a number of polls sort of making a trend i'm not sure that you can really suggest that, you know, mitt romney has kind of turned the tide in ohio. i think it's sort of a witness and see. president obama's speech tonight is going to be a huge moment coming on the heels of bill clinton and how that sort of frames this convention is going to tell a lot of the story over the next few weeks. jon: shane deapril the editor of "campaigns and elections magazine." i'm sure you've got your hands full there in charlotte. thank for beinthanks for being with us. jon: thank you, jon. jenna: mitt romney is in vermont doing more debate preparation before heading to new hampshire tomorrow. we are less than a month away from the first debate, by the way.

his running mate, paul ryan is set to speak at a rally in colorado springs. in a new ad, is playing to folks who like the president but says he doesn't delivered. >> listen, this just isn't working. it's been four years, you've changed, your spending is out of control, you're constantly on the golf course and you're always out with hollywood celebrities, your jobs council says you haven't shown up in six months. you're just not the person you were. it's in my, it's you. i think we should just be friends. >> tell us why you're breaking up with president obama at break up with obama.com. jenna: the president says, we can still be friends as long a even if you break up with me. jon: some thought this was obama girl. jenna: it's not obama girlment it's a new girl with a different

message. stpho: romney girl i guess. jenna: romney girl, there you go, jon. jon: he's married, though. so is the president. as we preview president obama's acceptance speech we are taking a look back at the campaign promises from 2008 and some of the president's pledges that have not been fulfilled. jenna: plus it only has four electoral votes but every vote counts, as you know new hampshire could decide the race for the white house. we'll have a closer look at which way voters in the granite state are leaning just ahead. questions? anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'.

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jon: we are your election headquarters. we are taking a close look at the battleground states that could decide this very close race for the white house. today taking a look at new hampshire. folks in the granite state have picked the winner in seven of the last eight presidential

elections. in the last four elections they've gone republican four times and democrat four times. the state of new hampshire if you look at some of the statistics, the state of new hampshire has four electoral votes, but those four electoral votes could be pivotal this time around, that's why the two campaigns are fighting so hard to win new hampshire. unemployment looking pretty good in new hampshire, a rate of 5.4%, much better than the national average. if you look at the visits, president obama has been there twice. mitt romney eight times. he has sometimes combined vacations at his lake house there with some campaigning. and of course he was the governor of neighboring massachusetts, so he has some history in that state. looking at the polls, 48.3% is the "real clear politics" average in new hampshire for the president. 44.8% for mitt romney. drew kline is the editorial paged tore for the union leader

newspaper. those poll numbers, do those seem accurate to you? >> yeah, roughly. i think that obama had a pretty big lead in new hampshire late last year. his popularity has dropped, his job performance as dropped. people are giving mitt romney a much closer look than they did before, especially, you know, they are giving i should say obama's opponent a close look now that he has an opponent. so it's close in new hampshire. the polls suggest that there's 3, 4 points difference right now. there is actually u & h conducting a poll in the field right now as we speak. it will be out next week. it will be interesting to see how that shapes up. jon: yeah, i'm accustomed to new hampshire being, you know, so politically involved in the early stages of a campaign, because it's that first in the nation primary, but i don't recall it being such a crucial battleground state this late in the process.

is my memory failing, or is this an unusual year for new hampshire? >> i don't know that it's all that unusual now. new hampshire used to be a little more what you might call red, but it's kind of in between right now, and you have to think of new hampshire as, you know, people outside of new hampshire kind of think of it as a white northeastern state where people are just living up in the hills and they've always lived there. more than half of granite staters are from out of state. that has been true for a longtime. the population of the state is in flux, you have a lot of people moving in from massachusetts and a lot of people coming in to the state for jobs. the unemployment rate is quite good and has been for some time. the economy is going strong comparatively to new england. we get a lot of people who move here from mid-atlantic states and from new york and pennsylvania and places like that. the population is changing, and we have surprises 0 could

election time. you have to look at 2000 when al gore lost new hampshire by 7,000 votes, and that made the difference, and here we are with a few percentage points between obama and romney. we could be looking at an election this fall where new hampshire not only decides who is president, but by a couple of thousand votes. jon: right, and that's why this state again is so pivotal and why both campaigns are spending so much time there. i read from some research that our brain room put together that gun rights are pretty important in new hampshire. >> oh, quite, yeah. jonand deficit spending is a thing that is pretty important in new hampshire. being fiscally responsible is pretty important in new hampshire. it's not a state that you can necessarily pigeonhole into one category or another because you have different population centers that are filled with people from the southern part of the state, you have a lot of tax refugees from massachusetts, they tend to vote republican. and you have other pockets of

the state where you have people who have moved in from mid-atlantic states and they tend to vote democrat. so it's not sort of this stereotypical new england state i think that people outside of the region tend to think it is. jon: i was up there for a brief visit this spring, it's a beautiful place, drew kline i kind of envy you living there. >> a nice place. jon: we'll come visit again, from the union leader newspaper. thanks for joining us today, drew. >> my pleasure. jenna: a major controversy causing division at the democratic national convention and we saw it play out. party leaders are pushing to chain the official platform but a lot of the delegates were set against it. >> all those delegates opposed say no. [no ] okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle --

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jon: major drama yesterday at the democratic national convention over the party's platform when it was noted on monday there was no mention of god in the document, and it also dropped the party's recognition of jerusalem as the capitol of israel. that caused a big uproar. president obama personally intervened to restore those two references to the platform, but it caused some embarrassing moments when a motion to reinsert both language -- both items' language came up for a vote on the floor. los angeles mayor, mayor antonio villaraigosa called for a vote. then he tried it a second time, then a third time. >> i'll do that one more time. all those delegates in favor say aye. [aye ]

>> all those opposed say no. [no!] >> in the opinion of the chairman the motion was adopted. jon: sounds like a two-thirds victory to you? you decide. in case there is any doubt about how the party leaders and what that he wanted it to go. here is the teleprompter that was already scripted with the new language. how are the media handling all of this. ellen ratner is bureau chief of the talk news service. jim pinkerton is a contributing editor and writer for a conservative magazine, both are fox news contributors. two-thirds majority voting yes there, ellen? >> listen, i understand that you guys have said that the media has ignored this issue. i represent talk radio and talk radio media. i've got to tell you, every one of our stations from 6:30 this morning on, democrats, republicans, middle level stations all those kind of

hosts, everyone brought that up. either there is no other news to cover or people are really fascinated by it. jon: i looked at the front page of "the new york times" there was bear low a mention of it. >> i didn't see it either. listen, if this had been the republican convention and this exact same thing had happened, the mainstream media would have brought out acoustical engineers, and sound checks and decibel checks -- i'm not even sure they got a majority, let alone two third. in addition the two people in the t-shirts who were obviously upset about the votes that you've seen in all the video clips . those people would be household names today, they would have been on the nightly news last night, on the today show and the morning shows this morning. we don't know exactly who they are. they would be accounting to the benefit of the mainstream media, exactly what happened, who talked to whom, what was said, all tick tock, tick tock stuff. since it was a democratic convention as opposed to a republican convention none of this has happened. >> i guess radio is not mainstream media, talk radio.

>> talk radio is not mainstream media, that is exactly right. >> i guess we have a different opinion about that. jon: ellen what about the fact that the president personally had to intervene? this is the guy who who would have us believe that he is the professor, his attention to detail is legendary, he is the smartest guy in the room and somehow it escaped his notice that these two things that are so important to him were not in the democratic party platform? >> well, first of all, i don't think it escaped his notice, he did intervene as you said, so how did it escape his notice? secondly bill clinton. jon: how didn't it escape his notice if they weren't in there in the first place is what i'm trying to say. >> i understand that, busy people, and the president of the united states is a busy person don't always have a hundred percent to detail in every way, and clearly he did intervene. i have to point out that elizabeth warren certainly talked about the god factor,

certainly talked about the words in the new testament yesterday, she is a senate candidate from massachusetts. i don't think god was so absent. >> well once again on that issue, even if you concede that the president is too busy to read the platform, fair enough, where is the campaign staff? again if this had been a republican convention they would be endorsing todd akin or something that the mainstream media hated they would be interviewing the campaign manager and strategist and everybody associated with the whip operation. they'd be grilling mayor antonio villaraigosa saying did you really think this asking him the same question 500 different ways. they admit that it's a media spectacle that the vote happened but they are not getting granular on exactly the details like they would have been if it was a republican convention. >> i'm not sure they would have been granular. i'm going to throw jim in bone. when i watched abc coverage of the first laid doe's speech on monday night, i don't watch a lot of mainstream television.

i was pretty horrifying at the tpaupbg and the lack of news reporting that went on on monday with the first lady's speech. i don't know, maybe i've been doing this media kreut sis many for too long, i thought they could have been a little more reporting and a little less tpaupbg and i'm a liberal. jon: wow, we will have to put that one on the calendar. we'll remember this day. ellen ratner from talk radio news. jim pinkerton, thank you both. jenna: remember this pledge from the president? >> change means a tax code that doesn't reward the lobbyists who wrote it. jenna: ahead of mr. obama's acceptance speech in charlotte we will look back at some of the promises he made four years ago and which ones came true. also democrats called in the big dog last night, bill clinton, the former president campaigned for the white house as a centrist democrat, at least for his second term. now some say the president is not turning toward the center but turning away, turning more far left. we'll have a fair & balanced

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jenna: president obama set to make his case to the nation tonight. we're expecting to hear his vision for the country, for the next four years, if he is reelected. now we're looking back on the last four years and what happened in 2008 and the promises then senator obama made in his first presidential campaign. william la jeunesse is live in los angeles with more on this. hi, william. >> reporter: well, jenna, candidate obama made many

promises. one was to eliminate federal programs that don't work. another to stop iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. so far neither of those have been met. he also ripped the bush administration on the economy. so judge for yourself if the president is living up to his own words. >> tonight more americans are out of work and more are working harder for less. >> reporter: that was candidate obama four years ago. >> more of you have lost your homes and even more are watching your home values plummet. >> reporter: blaming president bush. >> the failure to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in washington and the failed policies of george w. bush. >> reporter: failures, he said republicans refuse to accept. >> it's time for them to own their failure. >> reporter: the question tonight, will he? >> we measure progress how many people can find a job that pays the mortgage. >> reporter: since the president took office, family incomes declined by $4,000. candidate obama also promised -- >> in 10 years we will

finally end our dependence on oil from the middle east. >> reporter: in fact persian gulf oil imports increased each of the last three years. he claimed -- >> change means a tax code that doesn't reward lobbyist who wrote it. >> reporter: wall street, nascar, tuna, energy lobbyists all won tax breaks this year. >> he ran on the platform of getting rid of special interests and that has not happened. >> many of these plans will cost money. i laid out how i will pay for every dime. >> reporter: but the president's latest budget carry as trillion dollar deficit. >> it is awkward situation for him to be sure, no doubt about it, but he will make the best of it right now. has to remind people how we got into this. >> reporter: looking back, democrats say it wasn't hyperbole or broken promises. that these problems were just too big to solve in four years. here's something else he said in 2008, jenna and i'm quoting. if you don't have a record to run on, you paint your

opponent as someone people should run from. the gop believes that is one promise he may make true tonight. back to you. jenna: gives us a lot to think about today, william, thank you. jenna: right now president obama has a big act to follow. bill clinton showing last night why he is still a master at the podium, seemingly very much at ease as he defends the obama record, reminding us how president clinton was able to pivot successfully to the center and speak to issues that middle class americans deeply care about. tonight president obama will be solo. he will have to make the big sell. what can we expect in what could be the biggest speech of the president's political career? for a fair and balanced debate, joining us now, susan estridge, professor of lou and political science at usc and fox news contributor. brad blakeman, former deputy assistant to president george w. bush. i said president clinton moved to the center, pivoted to the center, this after

the 1994 elections that gave control of the house of representatives to republicans. has president obama done anything similar, brad? >> no. he doubled down on his failed policies. clinton is a survive. he is a politician. when he first came into office after bet beating an incumbent president, jon, he thought he had a mandate to do whatever he wanted to do. he got cut short by the midterms. got rocked back on his heels on health care. he decided he want ad legacy for himself. he would work with republicans. changed his management style and his political fortunes were changed because he changed. this president's political fortunes were changed in the midterm election where he was rocked back on his heels. the problem he didn't realize what it took in order to govern and doubled down on failed policies. nothing got done. gridlock ensued and his policies were dead on arrival in the house and senate. i had one politician bill clinton, who i believe when people saw him last night,

especially democrats, said that is the guy they like. when they saw quarter, at the convention. that is the guy we got. jenna: susan did memories of bill clinton, did he stir up old memories of the good ol' days that the obama administration has failed to match up to? >> well, look the country was in great shape then. peace and prosperity, and it is much easier to run as bill clinton did for second term on peace and prosperity than it is to run with an 8%, hovering there unemployment rate but you have to take issue with one thing brad said. i've known bill clinton for too many years to admit to. he was never a liberal. i mean he just wasn't. he is liberal in his sort of as governor, went to yale law school. had lots of friends who came from the liberal wing of the democratic party. let's make no mistake. clinton, at his core has always run as a moderate. barack obama has not run as a moderate.

he didn't run as a moderate four years ago. he has a strong base in the democratic party and democrats, that is working in his favor. jenna: here is something bill clinton said last night proves the president's bipartisanship. take a listen. >> one of the main reasons we ought to reelect president obama is that he is still committed to constructive cooperation. [applause] look at his record. look at his record. [applause] look at his record. he appointed republican secretaries of defense, the army and transportation. jenna: all right. so, if you, if you retain, actually, is what he did, retained the republican secretary of defense. he appointed ray lahood, a congressman to transportation and then, ambassador john hunts republican to china. does that prove

bipartisanship, brad? >> certainly does not. to quote bill clinton, let's look at his record. he put together a bipartisan commission on simpson-bowles, the deficit. came up with great alternatives for this country to get us back on track. what did he do? he rejected it. shelved it. would not take it up with a congress that he controlled. in addition to that, this president has totally ignored his leadership and the leadership of the house and senate republicans. he refuses to meet with them. jon, all i ask the press to do look at president's schedule. look how many times he met which is his own leadership and opposition? it is almost nonexistent. hasn't met with business council and jobs council in six months. this is president that talks one way but certainly does the other. >> one thing interesting i saw in the research for the segment, susan, jody cantor wrote the book, in this three plus years the obama's have not had the clintons to

a private dinner at the white house although they have been to a couple of state dinners. doesn't that seem a little weird? current democratic president. >> no. jenna: it doesn't? >> look, hillary has plenty of time with the president. this is not a case are if where the clintons have an idea don't have the opportunity to put it across. and you know, i don't know about the private dinners to be honest. i don't care that much. when bill clinton was president and i went to the white house, it was mostly old friends from arkansas and big money people. i didn't see a lot of politicians at his level. as for the congress, look, i don't want to play blame games but both side here, democrats and republicans, are locked in such a partisan battle that brad's right, nothing gets done. i think you have to look what is going on in congress for an explanation for that. i mean you talk about this deficit commission. paul ryan was among those house republicans who were absolutely opposed to the provisions. you know, the house republicans made clear they weren't playing. jenna: that goes to the

point that started the segment, bill clinton reached out to congress. >> he did. jenna: so far in this era we seem to be at loggerheads. we'll have to leave it there. susan estridge, brad blakeman. thank you both. >> thank you. >> thank you. jenna: seems to be a theme at the democratic convention so far. we'll see what happens tonight. the shrinking middle class, versus america's wealthy. 99% versus the 1%. author of a new piece in "fortune" magazine says slamming the rich won't help the economy. nina easton is here to explain why next. hi. i'm henry winkler.

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to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. [cheers and applause] >> we certainly want those at the top to do well but if you base your entire presidency and your entire economic platform on helping them do even better, you're missing what makes the economy tick. because not everyone has been as fortunate as mitt romney. you can not base your whole approach on a life experience as rarefied as his. >> we learned about dignity and decency. that how hard you work matters more than how much you make. that helping others means more than just getting ahead yourself. >> i'm here tonight to talk about hard-working people, people who get up early, stay up late, cook dinner and help out with homework. people who can be counted on to help their kids, their parents, their neighbors, and the lady down the street

whose car broke down. people who worked their hearts out but are up against a hard truth. the game is rigged against them. jenna: we just heard a snippet of what's been a theme of the democrats this election season and also at their convention, america's shrinking middle class versus the wealthiest 1%. democrats claim the republicans will help the rich at the expense of everyone else. critics call it a politically motivated attempt to incite class warfare that will only serve to divide the nation and not help anybody. in cover story for "forbes" magazine this month, fox news contributor nina easton writes this. pitting americans against one another distracts from the harder and far more important conversation. how to jump-start the escalator for 23 million unemployed and underemployed. diatribes against the 1% are provocative and entertaining but they don't offer a path to prosperity for those left behind in the globe economy.

if americans really understood who the 1% are, they would be more likely to stop name-calling and shift the debate to the dire task at hand, getting millions back to work. nina easton is our guest now. we mentioned because it is that time and that season. her husband is senior advisor to the romney campaign. as i mentioned we just mention that now because here we are, nina. at this time, 61 days before the election. want to go through your article a bit by bit here. you say this argument, this 1% versus the 99% is a flawed prism, a confusing prism. why is that? >> well, and i would go past the democratic convention here because i think this is something that has seeped into the media culture as well, particularly since occupy wall street came on the scene about, exactly a year ago now. it is flawed because it is idea that the rich, are, as the rich get richer, the middle class by definition gets poorer. that is simply not the case.

let's tee off of bill clinton's talk last night. bill clinton attacked the concentration, increasing concentration of wealth in the 1992 campaign but under bill clinton, wealth increased, concentrated at the top, but at the same time, average families got richer too. it was an economy that helped the middle class as well as the upper class. and what happens is it takes away from the hard questions we have to ask. what do you need to get by, attacking the rich. you're not talking about what you need to get people on that escalator moving up. what do you need? you need reform of education to start with. you need to talk about the mismatch of skills, companies need to be doing more to train people for the jobs that are open. and these are hard, difficult questions. how do you get that middle class linked into the same global economy that's helped the upper class? jenna: at this point in the financial crisis, and i know we're out of the recession but we're still in this time

of turmoil when it comes to where we are in the economy in this country, why don't we have better answers on either side to the questions you just pose? >> i think they're really complex questions. think it's g, it's gotten so steeped in the media political culture, in part because our culture historically, from colonial times, we have had this conflicted attitude towards wealth. we love equality but we also love the pursuit of wealth. it is something that we're not, again we're conflicted about. i think that stirs a lot of emotions about it. but again, you need to look at things like education reform. let me start, one starting point. a harvard economist said, okay, let's take all the gains of the 1% over the past 30 years. by the way, this is a 30-year trend. this isn't the bush economy. let's take the gains of the 1% over 30 years and give all those gains to the 990%. that would only be a fraction of what those households would gain if

they all had college educations. if you have a college education, it's, you're far less likely to be unemployed, and you also are far more likely to be earning a lot more money. so it's a job protection too. jenna: that is so interesting and we see that with the unemployment we get tomorrow, the discrepancy between those that are educated and those that aren't and unemployment rate for those classes of people, if you will. nina, i only have a short period of time. we'll hear middle class tonight. is the middle class shrinking? is the middle class shrinking and more people are becoming poorer? is the middle class shrinking and more people are becoming rich or is the middle class staying the same? >> middle class is shrinking because more people are bumping up into the upper class. the bottom of the income level is what we have to worry about. that is where there is a lack of mobility and those folks are not moving up the income ladder. in fact we lag behind a lot

of european countries and canada on that score. we have to look at the folks who don't have, high school degrees, let alone a college degree. high school dropouts and high school graduates. those are the people at the bottom. that is what we have to worry about. the middle income people, again, we're still in a rocky economic time and i don't want to underestimate all the hurt a lot of people are going through but if you look over three decade trend, the middle class is not shrinking contrary to the claims of the democrats. jenna: that is a great article. really enjoyed it. encourage your readers as well. stop pete -- beating up on the rich is the theme. we look forward to having you back. >> thanks, jenna. jenna: we'll being back with more "happening now" 8% every 10 years. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor?

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jenna: a new book about president obama's first term reveals some explosive up sights to the president's leadership style just after taking office. some say it set the tone for partisan bickering that continues to this day. chief national correspondent jim angle live in washington with that. jim? >> reporter: hello, jon yeah, just before the inauguration president-elect obama went to capitol hill to tell leaders of both parties he want ad stimulus in the range of 800 billion to 1.3 trillion. he asked for everyone's ideas and both parties said the atmosphere for bipartisan cooperation was sincere on all sides. but then the president went his own way. as the book put it, president obama and his advisers, quote, believed government spending could create jobs and grow the economy while republicans believe that helping small business would create more jobs. three days after inauguration, president obama called congressional leaders to the white house. house minority whip eric cantor arrived with a list of proposals including immediate reduction in the

two lowest individual income tax rates, a tax reduction of 20% on small businesses and making unemployment benefits tax-free among other things. the president flatly rejected the cantor ideas and according to the book rubbed it in, saying quote, elections have consequences and eric, i won. the president was having trouble with conservative democrats as well. so democratic leaders nancy pelosi and senator harry reid were working on changes to win over enough democrats. president obama called them on a speaker phone to tell them their efforts would save the economy. pelosi and reid who thanks mr. obama who started a lengthier speech. according to the book, pelosi hit the mute button and democrats went back to the their work, leaving the president speaking into the ozone. the bill eventually passed without a single republican vote. eric cantor looked back saying he was really surprised the book says, quote, how badly the white house played what should have been a winning hand. though obama won the vote,

cantor vote, he had unified and energized losers. in its earliest moments mr. obama succeeded squandering any good will and the chance to cooperate with republicans. jon? jenna: always interesting nuggets in a bob woodward book. thank you. jenna: campaign leaders are telling our very own james rosen that tonights speech will not be about magic but mr. obama vision to move the america forward. we're your election headquarters and we'll be right back ven 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

jenna: a traffic cop in charlotte having some fun with passerbiers, even though he's working. during a temporary gig directing traffic for the dnc, this officer a member of the clayton county sheriff's office s.w.a.t. team entertains drivers and pedestrians with all these dance moves. no wonder -- did the s.w.a.t. team learn that during training.